Protesting NATO war crimes in Chicago: Because the World Can't Wait
Yesterday was pretty intense. We arrived at Grant Park to a heavy police presence. Some of us had not slept well the night before after hearing the news of that the police had raided the homes of nato protesters and then falsely charged them of “plotting terrorism. The police had also driven a car into a crowd of non violent nato protesters that same night.
After arriving we were immediately stopped by the Chicago Police. They asked us who we were and why we were carrying PVC piping (thin plastic tubes) We told them what it was for; carrying our banners. They told us that it could be used for something else, asked us what organization we were apart of and how many people were in our organization. They ran our drivers licenses and then proceeded to taunt us, asking if we would carry a banner for their precinct. After asking multiple times whether we were being detained or free to go, they confiscated our pvc piping and let us go. It was absolutely ridiculous! Here we are going to protest some of the most murderous war criminals who have OPENLY bombed entire villages and ordered executions of civilians and WE were being treated like the criminals. The only answer the powers that be have to the illegal immoral wars is repression against those who protest.
When we got to the rally and met up with our crew it was heartening to see all the people who showed up despite the police repression and we felt even greater resolve to bring those who are most affected by NATO, the nato victims. Video here:
We had a beautiful contigents with 8 different banners in 8 different languages that read “humanity and the planet come first. Stop The Crimes of the U.S. government. We also had images of the death and destruction NATO has unleashed in the middle east and south asia.
This set a really important tone for the day, and many people of different nationalities were attracted to our contigent because of this tone. There was also lots of international media that interviewed us off of seeing our banners. One Pakistani man was so happy to see that we were bringing attention to those who have been killed in Pakistan by NATO. He took video of our banners so that people in Pakistan could see that there are Americans who are opposed to what NATO is doing because they don’t know that Americans are opposed to the NATO bombings.
When the march began we chanted “ What Comes First? Humanity and The Planet” This was very moving because you had people from all over the world who were showing that they care about what happens to people around the world. One person put it, “ They have a world military alliance, why shouldn’t we have an alliance with the people of the world.” We chanted in NO to NATO in URDU and in Spanish. We showed the enlarged images of the civilians casualties to people on the sidelines and told them this is why they were protesting NATO. Many people took flyers and shook their heads at the images. At one point in the march a large group of people were chanting “ Join Us, Join Us Cause the World Can’t Wait” and people joined in off the sidewalks, took pictures of our banners. Different people agitated saying things like “ You [NATO] kill our children while they are eating breakfast, while they go to school”
After the march stopped at its destination, Iraq and Afghanistan era war veterans ( including Scott Olsen from Oakland) threw their medals over the fence towards the NATO summit with each of them saying why they were giving their medals back and sharing common cause first and foremost with the Iraqis and Afghanistan people. Video here: One veteran threw his medal for our friend Anthony Wagner, an Iraq veteran who passed away last year. Anthony toured into high school classrooms with World Can’t Wait to talk to students about his experience in the military and why they shouldn’t join.
Jason Hurd, a fomer combat medic who spent 10 years in the U.S. army said,” I’m here to return my Global War on Terror Service Medal in solidarity with the people of Iraq and the people of Afghanistan, I am deeply sorry for the destruction that we have caused in those countries and around the globe."
Reports later that day showed the police brutally beating protesters, picking people off and arresting them.
Overall it was an amazing day and hopefully the beginning of people really stepping up to oppose the Obama administration’s wars ( covert and open) and find renewed determination to stop them.
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Kevin Gosztola
Progressive Liberal
dragonlady
Lina Thorne
Dennis Loo
Jill McLaughlin
Salon.com
Comments
When the inevitable retribution comes - whether from within or from without - all those who are silent now will then complain, "How was this allowed to happen?" when they should ask, "How did I allow this to happen?" Of course, by then it will be too late and all our smug propaganda of "righteous killings", "national security" and "good wars" will not save us one whit.
"This medal I'm dedicating to children of Iraq who no longer have fathers and mothers," and "For all my brothers and sisters affected by traumatic brain injury, military sexual trauma, and post traumatic stress disorder," and "What I saw there crushed me." "No amount of medals, ribbons, and flags can cover the amount of human suffering caused by these wars." "Some of us watched our friends die. Some of us are not here because we took our own lives." "Bring our troops home."
My experience was the roads being eerily empty for part of the days, rows and rows of either black sedans with dark sunglassed, hearing device in their ear drivers, or big white SUVS, groups of policemen and special forces officers at the street corners and the general feeling of a police state. Vans driving around full of officers, it was hard to tell which military group or country they were a part of, the only thing evident was that they were armed. My Romanian doorman told me it reminded him of the days of Communism in Romania. My favorite park, Olive Park, which is next to the Water Treatment plant of Chicago was closed for fear that the plant, that controlled the water supply of all Chicago might be damaged. All the bushes, that the birds had already nested in, were cut to the ground, nests and all and carted away, for fear that people might hide in them for cover. All the apartment buildings had extra security people, some closed some of their side exits for fear that protestors might get in.
I think you get the picture. Add to that, I work at a retailer part-time on Michigan Avenue, I was hoping that we might get a lot of the NATO contingent shopping, I was completely wrong. We had our deadest 3 days we have had in the years that I have worked there and I am sure all the other Michigan Avenue retailers had the same experience. The entire experience was a feeling of being "locked down", all humanity was gone from the streets and all there was were security personnel. For awhile on Saturday, it was a beautiful day in Chicago, the streets were filled with people walking but it was a weird juxtaposition, almost a feeling like being in the middle of the movie, The Matrix, with people walking on the streets in a dream state, oblivious to all the men in suits with dark sunglasses watching them.
I understand that it was needed to be done. But the entire experience got me really sad. It made me realize that this is the kind of world we live in now, the city basically had to be cleared out and then filled with military, police, secret service, special forces, and other countries security officers as well, in order for all these dignitaries to arrive and to be safe.
In some ways, I wondered if the focus was on fear of the protestors so as to not have to focus on the message that many of them carried that a sense of humanity has left the table when it comes to world security and the military.
Fortunately, I worked at the Green City Market further north in Lincoln Park Saturday and the market was brimming with people which grounded me in an otherwise very creepy day.
I am happy that the NATO conference was a success, that no major incidents happened but at the same time has this what the world has come to, the necessity for a police state in order for world leaders to get together? I am so happy that the "lockdown" is over and Olive Park is open again. Humanity is back to Chicago.
An event like this, with all its security risks, does not belong in a major city anymore. The burden on regular people is too high, especially in this economy, where workers can't afford to lose hours and businesses can't afford to lose sales.
I have to say that it was the same as in the '68 - '72 era, when cops would raid apartments, kill suspects -- I mean right there on the scene ... Things are yet rather opaque, with some loopy undertone of the real meaning of those who choose to protest. Many yet do not understand that this is not our just venting -- no, this is our civil duty, our responsibility. Stopping our aggressive moves in the name of protecting people is not a valid response: if people only knew what was going on, they would realize we still have to kill people to ... protect, save them? When will we learn?
Are you trying to kid me or are you just kidding yourself? He was a city cop. I'll bet he was a beet cop that got pulled because some stupid people decided they have a "point to prove" when in fact I'll bet it's so people like you will write "agent provocateur".
The pointless battle on Cermak Road after the march was nothing compared to the death and destruction that NATO has left behind around the world. In fact, maybe NATO should arm itself with the weapons of the Black Bloc and just go out in the street and pick fights with police once in a while. That would be an improvement over the hell they inflict on impoverished people around the world
So you think "nothing compared to the death and destruction that NATO has left behind around the world" is a correct statement. Let's for the sake of argument say you are correct.
The people in Chicago who own business, work or travel in that part of town have nothing to do with NATO. The cop who was stabbed, who was just doing his job, has nothing to do with NATO.
So why is it okay to destroy, scare, and injury people who have nothing to do with NATO? Are they not doing the same thing you want NATO to stop doing, or does the ends justify the means?
but the imminent collapse of the economy can be shored up by reducing social entitlements, by importing educated people, by giving citizenship to immigrant soldiers, so don't expect this rotten ship of state to sink soon.
'protest' is a symptom of the decay, but will not influence the nation's masters until things become so bad that protest is subsumed in rebellion.
BTW, Chicago has parades for every occasion, handled properly, they provide revenue for the vendors who provide refreshments and trinkets. Chicagoans are quite used to parades of all types.
In my opinion, the city government wanted violence. As parades go, it was fairly small, only about 10,000 people. Most of them had left when the veterans ceremony was over. I left about 30 minutes before the trouble started, but being surrounded by aggressive shoving riot police, fenced in by barricades and being ordered to move to one area only to find that was blocked as well was an invitation for trouble. I don't have any details about the stabbing you refer to or how the officer received it. The Chicago Police are not a reliable source of information.
Most of the injuries were among peaceful demonstrators caught up in a violence they did not want any part of. I might add that most of the police were well behaved and just wanted to collect their paychecks and go home. We had a few thugs on our side, the police had many more. If the police command wanted a peaceful ending they would have cooperated with the parade organizers.
Parade organizers had worked hard to contain the Black Bloc but received no cooperation from the police at the end of the march.The police chief obviously wanted to be the "hero" of the day and get column inches in our local news tabloid.
As for the Black Bloc, there were a couple of hundred of them and most of them were not violent in any way. They had some obnoxious chants and dressed in black on a hot day so that they were pretty sweaty by the end, but other than that, they were just being theatrical. I'm sure they were well infiltrated and that the police had a pretty good idea of who they were and their capabilities.
The few anti-war demonstrators who were looking for trouble ensured that the veterans ceremony was shoved out of the media attention so that they got their headlines along with our "heroic" police chief who penned us in like animals and then pretended to be surprised when there was pushing, shoving and then violence.
The few jerks among the demonstrators did not bomb and villages, unleash drone strikes, massacre villagers or start wars for oil and geo-political control over resources. In fact, neither did the jerks among the cops. There were no people with catastrophic brain injuries, scarred bodies or missing limbs. There were no crippling instances of PTSD. There no graves, marked or unmarked. That violence was the responsibility of the NATO leaders who were a few blocks to the east of us.
The real violence was the was being planned there. Not by some assholes in black, either in police uniforms or with anarchist slogans on their clothes.
Rahm, please go back to Wall Street and make some more millions for yourself. you clearly have no idea how to govern a major American metropolis.